About Kajsa H.A.

My name is Kajsa Hallberg Adu. I was born in the early 1980s in northern Sweden. I grew up with my three siblings in a culturally rich (and sometimes a bit crazy) family on an island in southern Sweden, Gotland.

After leaving high school and my family, I volunteered at the World Expo 2ooo in Hannover, Germany and my interest in international life blossomed. I studied in Georgia, U.S.A. before coming back to Sweden for my Bachelor’s in Political Science at Uppsala University. During studying, I met an interesting young man from Ghana. For the subsequent Master’s degree, I had the opportunity of interning for the Swedish foreign ministry in Paris.

In 2007, I moved to Ghana. I live in the harbor city, Tema, about 40 minutes (if no traffic) from Ghana’s capital Accra. I work as a lecturer at Ashesi University in Accra, but also as a Freelance Writer and Communications Consultant, most recently with awesome anti-corruption initiative Klarity.

Growing up, I read a lot and dreamed of making a living off of writing. In a way it has come true, I write for some publications, I write academic stuff, and I completed my Ph.D. in African Studies at the University of Ghana in 2015.

I am also a mother of two daughters and the spouse of a Ghanaian man (in green next to me in the photo). I am mindful of that my children and husband have not chosen to be blogged about, so usually I focus my posts where they are a part on parenting or my experience of them. My husband, of course, gets to review if he is mentioned in any way. Not writing at all about my children or spouse would be strange as they are so important to me. A wonderful way of studying life is being a blogger.

I started my first blog in 2006 when I was moving to Paris. It was a natural step after having kept a diary since kindergarten. In 2008 while new in Ghana, I co-founded the network BloggingGhana. In 2011, we formally registered as an organization and started election project GhanaDecides, Ghana’s first Social Media and Blogging Awards, and yearly event BlogCamp. Blogging and other social media became a big part of my life, especially as a means of keeping in touch with friends all over the globe, not to mention making new ones. You can follow me on Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram @kajsaha.

My next journey is finding my feet as a writer post-PhD. I have realized that search has negatively affected the blog and especially the regularity with which I post. (Something I advise new bloggers is important to commit to, but know after 10+years as a blogger is the most difficult!) I will not promise anything, but only say: “I AM STILL HERE!”

I reli love that u took the time & effort to give this apt and intriguing narrative of yourself. i dont stay longer than 5 mins on blogs where i cant know a bit about who’s behind it, so this automatically becomes a to-be-revisited blog. I pray your heart’s desires come to pass 🙂

o plus, i’m digging the multilinguality!

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Kajsa

October 25, 2010 at 5:30 pm ·

Thanks, the only thing I like more than writing is writing about myself…I agree with you that blogs with a clear “face” behind them are more interesting. See you soon again!

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Bernard Akoi-Jackson

October 30, 2010 at 12:26 am ·

Hi Kajsa,
Greetings from Sintra. The workshop is quite exciting. We even had our first rain today. I’ll mmake time to write longer in a few days. But for now, just for you to know that I kept my promise to keep in touch….Bernard.

[…] It has been a little over a decade since Peter Merholz coined the word “blog” from Jorn Barger’s “weblog.” As tech-savvy hands nimbly explored this platform that facilitated personal diary-like entries, newbies caught on, and so did developing countries. Certainly the world has witnessed the transformation of blogs into strong political and social platforms; it is interesting how much Africa is advancing in its garnering of avid bloggers, one of them being Ghana-based Swedish lecturer and freelance writer, Kajsa Hallberg Adu. […]

[…] It has been a little over a decade since Peter Merholz coined the word “blog” from Jorn Barger’s “weblog.” As tech-savvy hands nimbly explored this platform that facilitated personal diary-like entries, newbies caught on, and so did developing countries. Certainly the world has witnessed the transformation of blogs into strong political and social platforms; it is interesting how much Africa is advancing in its garnering of avid bloggers, one of them being Ghana-based Swedish lecturer and freelance writer, Kajsa Hallberg Adu. […]

[…] Hajsa Hallberg Adu, a lecturer and freelance writer is Ghana’s number four blogger. Born in Sweden in the early […]

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Ehsan Elahi Shahid

November 10, 2011 at 12:04 pm ·

Hi Kajsa! 🙂

I feel blessed to have found you..
we share a lot together… I have started “writing” for a weekly just recently..
My area of interest is Social Media Management…
and what a co-incidence ti share that I am going to take my PhD in Social Media maybe from a NORDIC University and I am interesting to research on Use of Social media for Opinion Building and Reputation Management by the NORDIC governments 🙂

My name is Gunadiish. Im a ghanaian and in the process of creating blog communities on in universities across the nation who will blog on the telecom industry/companies/products and services. I will love you to be part of this. Please give me your response as Ashesi is one of my earliest schools to visit.

I’ve built a really cool mobile app for siblings to keep in touch and was wondering if you’d like to give it a try.

The app works like a room you share with your siblings. All the files, photos, music, links and memories you add will be accessible by all your siblings. Free group messaging and a clever archive make it simple to share new experiences and preserve old memories.
The app is free and is available worldwide. (iPhone only for now)

If the app sounds interesting to you, clickity click on the link below!

I am a writer with a keen interest in social commentary. I’ve been widely published (u can verify on the internet. Based on the suggestion from a friend in the USA, we are trying to form a focus group to deal with the changing trends on social issues in Ghana.

We need a blog for that…. HOw do we go about it, and where do we start from? We need the support of all the blogging communities in Ghana. As a blogging guru, you are my first point of contact…. I have a blog: esociocomm.blogspot.com but want to create a new one for our focus group.

Can you help us in any way?

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Kajsa

April 8, 2013 at 4:08 pm ·

See your inbox!

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Emoh Rekerdz

April 18, 2013 at 7:00 am ·

we are independent record label in Accra, we were seeking for a blogger, show biz personnel, or a publicist, I came across you profile online, after reading I felt you will be the right person we will love to work with, I will want to have you contact so we can chat. if you want to know about our company, google, Emoh Rekerdz or The Unsigned hype. Thank You

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Jenn

August 12, 2013 at 8:14 pm ·

Hi Kajsa. I read about you in the CIMA report, and I have enjoyed reading your blogposts. I am a gender specialist working for an international development organization. I am currently working on a project related to women’s online activism and internet security, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to help me by answering a few questions? I’d like to learn more about whether you have faced online and/or gender-based harassment and what steps you have taken to protect yourself. If you’d be willing to email or speak with me, I’d be very grateful. Thank you so much!

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Kobina Amoo

March 20, 2014 at 7:50 pm ·

Hello Kajsa,
I found you when I was looking for powerful and inspirational internet presences in Ghana. I am running a crowdfunding campaign to transform the life of a man who robbed me one night in Accra, by buying him a car to begin a new enterprise as a taxi driver. If you could share my campaign with your social media audiences, it would mean THE WORLD to me. Please get back to me and let me know. The details are at the link below. Thanks:

Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your blog.
You have some really great posts and I thinhk I would
be a good asset.If you ever want to take some oof the load off, I’d really like to write some articles for your blog in exchange
for a link back to mine. Please blast me an email if interested.
Kudos!